You would not
believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as
I fell asleep
The Party told you to reject
the evidence of your eyes
and ears.
It was their final,
most essential command. 1
Nineteen Eighty-Four
[Renaissance philosophers] were alerted to the ancient manuscript tradition named after their supposed author,
Hermes Trismegistus…
The documents were collectively called the Corpus Hermeticicum or, simply, the Hermetica. 2
Tobias Churton
The Magus of Freemasonry
‘Cause they fill the open air
and leave teardrops everywhere
The key to the Hermetic rebirth resided in attainment of gnosis, spiritual knowledge to free the mind from the bonds of material perception. 3
Tobias Churton
The Magus of Freemasonry
With a wave of his hand, he had made the Earth a planet and set it spinning. 4
Dava Sobel
A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos
Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. 5
It’s magic, you know,
Never believe it’s not so
Pilot
Magic
Only puny secrets need protection.
Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity. 6
Marshall McCluhan
I’d like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
Argument from incredulity
Asserts that a proposition must be false because it contradicts one’s personal expectations or beliefs, or is difficult to imagine. 7
empiricism
The character of being empirical; reliance on direct experience and observation rather than on theory 8
We are turning with
the earth so fast.
But it feels a lot slower
Julian Casablancas
Left & Right In the Dark
teleology
The philosophical interpretation of natural phenomena as exhibiting purpose or design. 9
To everything
turn, turn, turn
There is a season
turn, turn, turn
And a time to every
purpose under Heaven
The Byrds
Turn! Turn! Turn!
The time has come
A fact’s a fact
It belongs to them
Let’s give it back
Midnight Oil
Beds Are Burning
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
Modern English
I Melt with You
To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose
under the heaven
Ecclesiastes 3 10
Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it? 11
Bertrand Russell
The Problems of Philosophy
It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay
Awake when I’m asleep
‘Cause everything is never as it seems
We’d better think about
the games we play
The world went round,
around and round
The Cranberries
Time Is Ticking Out
Symbolism was largely a reaction against naturalism and realism, anti-idealistic styles which were attempts to represent reality in its gritty particularity, and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over the ideal. Symbolism was a reaction in favour of spirituality, imagination, and dreams. 12
Wikipedia contributors.
And oh, my dreams
It’s never quite as it seems
The Cranberries
Dreams
And as I roll along,
I begin to find
Things aren’t always
just what they seem
Jack Johnson
Upside Down
‘Cause I’d get
a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to
teach me how to dance
Did all my dreams never mean one thing?
Imagine Dragons
Bad Liar
How can we dance
When our earth is turning?
Midnight Oil
Beds Are Burning
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just
hanging by a thread
Oh you, you keep me hangin’
‘Round and ’round and ’round and ’round
Electric Light Orchestra
From the End of the World
And the grand facade,
so soon will burn
Peter Gabriel
In Your Eyes
facade
a false, superficial, or artificial appearance or effect. 13
There is no dark side in the moon, really.
Matter of fact, it’s all dark.
The only thing that makes it look light is the sun.
(Gerry O’Driscoll)
Pink Floyd
Eclipse
Throw in some assumptions, such as moonlight being nothing more than reflected sunlight, and a framework of scientific logic takes shape. This architecture of scientific logic has an inherent beauty which emerges from how various arguments fit together, how several measurements interlock with one another, and how different theories are suddenly introduced to add strength to the edifice. 14
Simon Singh
Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe
The moon appears to shine
and light the skies,
with the help of some fireflies
Peter Frampton
Baby I Love Your Way
edifice
An elaborate conceptual structure. 15
The moon is out the stars invite
I think I’ll leave tonight
The Smashing Pumpkins
Rocket
The world’s still
spinning ’round
we don’t know why
Oasis
Champagne Supernova
Notes & References:
- 1984
https://archive.org/details/GeorgeOrwells1984
↩︎ - The Magus of Freemasonry: The Mysterious Life of Elias Ashmole- Scientist, Alchemist, and Founder of the Royal Society
↩︎ - Ibid.
↩︎ - A More Perfect Heaven
↩︎ - Nicolaus Copernicus: Wikipedia contributors. (2025, February 28) In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:55, March 1, 2025, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicolaus_Copernicus&oldid=1278072912
↩︎ - Take Today : The Executive as Dropout (1972) by Marshall McLuhan
↩︎ - Argument from incredulity
Asserts that a proposition must be false because it contradicts one’s personal expectations or beliefs, or is difficult to imagine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity
↩︎ - empiricism
The character of being empirical; reliance on direct experience and observation rather than on theory
The Century Dictionary
↩︎ - teleology
The philosophical interpretation of natural phenomena as exhibiting purpose or design.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition
↩︎ - Ecclesiastes 3
↩︎ - The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5827/pg5827.txt
↩︎ - Symbolism (movement): Wikipedia contributors. (2025, January 19) In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:40, March 1, 2025, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Symbolism_(movement)&oldid=1270526643
↩︎ - facade
a false, superficial, or artificial appearance or effect
Merriam-Webster
↩︎ - Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe
↩︎ - edifice
An elaborate conceptual structure.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
↩︎ - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%203:1-8&version=KJV
↩︎ - Truth-Stages
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/11/18/truth-stages/
↩︎
Songs:
Pilot – Magic
Julian Casablancas – Left & Right In the Dark
The Byrds – Turn! Turn! Turn!
Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning
Modern English – I Melt with You
The Cranberries – Time Is Ticking Out
The Cranberries – Dreams
Jack Johnson – Upside Down
Imagine Dragons – Bad Liar
Electric Light Orchestra – From the End of the World
Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
Peter Frampton – Baby I Love Your Way
The Smashing Pumpkins – Rocket
Oasis – Champagne Supernova
Owl City – Fireflies (Official Music Video)
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic philosophy.
Wikipedia contributors.
A time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together 16
Ecclesiastes 3
All truth passes through
three stages.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. 17
Unknown
It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep
Because my dreams are
bursting at the seams
The future’s open wide
Modern English
I Melt with You
